Texas Tech’s Zhaire Smith has garnered his fair share of recognition for his spectacular dunks throughout the season.

And while he had a couple of memorable ones, including a putback in a 70-63 road win against South Carolina over the weekend, Red Raiders coach Chris Beard felt there was something more impressive that exemplified what he as his coaching staff are trying to instill in the program: toughness.

With Texas Tech trailing South Carolina 58-56 just under the six-minute mark, Justin Gray created a scoring opportunity by deflecting a ball. Freshman Jarrett Culver dove toward the floor and won the 50-50 ball before passing it ahead to Smith who drew an intentional foul attempting to dunk the ball as part of an aggressive drive.

"Plays like that just embody everything we’re trying to do," Beard said of the sequence, which helped Tech cut the lead to 58-57 after Smith split a pair of free throws with 5:16 left in the second half. "That was a big one for us against South Carolina."

Gray’s deflection followed by Culver’s hustle was one of many individual efforts likely not logged on the stat sheet, but proved vital as the Red Raiders earn their second true road win of the season.

It also played a part in Texas Tech (17-4 overall, 4-3 in the Big 12), which finished last week with two wins, moving up to No. 10 in the latest Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

Another positive from the South Carolina win was seeing Tommy Hamilton IV, Norense Odiase and Malik Ondigo gaining confidence and getting into the flow of the offense. The trio combined for 18 points and 10 rebounds — five on the offensive end.

The biggest contribution came from Hamilton IV, who finished with nine points and six rebounds to spark the reserves. It was a much-needed output after the senior scored only seven total points and nabbed five total rebounds in his previous four games.

"Tommy is a very talented person. If you asked anybody in our league that’s coaching, they’d tell you the same thing," Beard said. "He comes here, transforms his body, and we’re playing a different style of play than he’s ever played. He’s really bought in. He’s had some huge games for us. We don’t beat South Carolina if it wasn’t for Tommy’s play."

When the Red Raiders play at 8 p.m. Wednesday against Texas, Hamilton, Odiase and Ondigo will need to play well once again inside United Supermarkets Arena.

"They’re hot, they’ve got a deep team," Odiase said of the Longhorns (14-7, 4-4), who have won three of their last four games. "They can shoot, they’ve got drivers, they’ve got rebounders, obviously. We’ve got to be in tune to this game, knowing we’ve lost to them at Texas gives us an extra edge to come into this game and get it done."

The Longhorns earned stellar performances from freshman forward Mohamed Bamba (15 points, 11 rebounds) and junior forward Dylan Osetkowski (12 points, five rebounds). The difference may have also come from Kerwin Roach II, who was cleared to play following a wrist injury and recorded a 20-point, five-rebound performance.

"We didn’t do a good job over there at Texas," Odiase said of the first matchup against Texas and its trio of frontcourt players, which includes freshman Jericho Sims. "We need to come out focused, more focused than we were last time. … We know how to get it around it. We’re practicing it now. We’ll get it done."

Evans garners third award

Keenan Evans proved to his team that he can help close out games and his last two performances got him noticed by the Big 12 Conference.

The senior was named the Big 12 Player of the Week after he averaged 28.5 points, four assists, three rebounds and 1.5 steals to helped Texas Tech go 2-0, including a home win against Oklahoma State and a true road win against South Carolina as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge last week.

When asked if a good offensive performance against Oklahoma State translated on the road to South Carolina, Odiase quipped that it was more than beneficial for Evans.

"Well, it bled over for Keenan," Odiase said, which made Beard chuckle at the podium. "He had a great week. He carried us last week. As a team, we feed off of him offensively. But guys did their job. It’s one thing about a team, whenever you’re ready to step up to do your job, it really helps."

Looking for More-tti

Freshman Davide Moretti has seen his offensive production and minutes dwindle in the last several games.

The freshman from Bologna, Italy, has totaled zero points in the last four games — logging 35 minutes of action. In that span, the combo guard has shot 0 for 10 from the field.

Beard feels like it’s a matter of time before Moretti, who continues to work on his shot during and after practice, finds his shooting stroke and breaks out of the slump.

"Morrow is a guy right now that’s just trying to look for a little confidence," Beard said of his freshman guard. "He’s literally one breakout game from, I think, really helping us. … He just needs to stay the course."